Has anyone really tried to play an armor-less Oracle? Many of the Mysteries (all of the elemental ones, plus Bones and Ancestor, to name a few), and I would say they tend to become semi-competitive with worn medium armor options after about 13th level when most of them give you some form of free DR.
What I'm curious about is a build that relies on this armor at an earlier level, possibly even level 1. At low levels, the Armor revelations are essentially equivalent to Mage Armor/Light Armor. Why bother doing this?
- Flavor-wise, it gives your Oracle more of a caster feel, differentiating you from a Cleric more than you would be otherwise.
- You're safe in situations where you're captured and stripped of gear, or attacked by a Rust Monster
- You're free of the burden of Armor Check Penalties
That last one is probably the most compelling mechanical reason to do this. Many of the Mysteries with an armor revelation also give you a class skill that is affected by armor. For example Bones gives you Stealth, Waves gives you Acrobatics, and Wind gives you both. This opens up the possibility of a more scout/skirmish-type Oracle, which sounds like it could be kind of fun. Has anyone tried this? Just from a cursory look, it would appear that Wind is probably the best option for this, while Heavens (giving no class skills affected by armor) is arguably the worst. Winter seems highly situational, as the armor ability loses effectiveness outside of a cold environment.
Hitting 0 ACP is cheap and easy. You also tend to get more armor bonus through enhancing your mithral breastplate than you will by wearing your mage armor, if that's your goal. So... not a big reason to do so. They also give additional benefits beyond AC at later levels, and those can be nice.
I'd do it though. I just haven't played an oracle yet. Not a big fan of the oracle/cleric spell list.
Hitting 0 ACP is cheap and easy. You also tend to get more armor bonus through enhancing your mithral breastplate than you will by wearing your mage armor, if that's your goal. So... not a big reason to do so. They also give additional benefits beyond AC at later levels, and those can be nice.
I'd do it though. I just haven't played an oracle yet. Not a big fan of the oracle/cleric spell list.
At low levels, you can invest that money elsewhere, though. And like you said, it'd be fun to try. You'd probably want to focus on either buffing or ranged combat rather than melee, though.
Poor Fire Mystery doesn't have such a Revelation, sadly. Would be so awesome too.
It does sound like it could be possible and fun, especially for Elves and Aasimars.
I'd suggest one of the races that gets bonus spells as their favored class bonus, like Human, Half-Orc, or Half-Elf.
I'd suggest one of the races that gets bonus spells as their favored class bonus, like Human, Half-Orc, or Half-Elf.
For a spontaneous caster that's almost not even a choice!
So...for the ideal PFS build, I guess we're looking at:
Human Oracle of Wind
- Take Hunter's Eye PFS trait, gain Longbow proficiency
- Point Blank Shot as Human Feat
- Precise Shot as 1st level feat
- Bonus spell as favored class bonus
Charisma > Dex > Con > Wis > Int > Str
Spells:
0: Stabilize, Guidance, Light, Detect Poison, Detect Magic
1: Cure Light Wounds, Shield of Faith, Bless
Revelation: Air Barrier
At this point, the feat tax for archery is paid sufficiently that our hero can hang in the back and drop buffs on the party while still contributing to combat.
It hurts to invest that many feats, especially with such a feat-starved class. Perhaps a longspear build would be better.
Many other classes besides fighters get bonus feats: wizards, sorcerers, rangers, rogues, cavaliers (just to name a few).
You can get a pretty decent AC using the Aasimar fave class bonus, but it doesn't start to get good until L7 or so.
And for Archer, look at (wood). They get a bonus to attack on wood weapons...bow.